Blue Mountains Gazette 17 October 2007
By Damien Madigan
Council will forge ahead with calling for private sector proposals to revitalise Springwood's town centre, despite strong opposition at an extraordinary council meeting last Friday.
Most councillors ignored the community's pleas to defer the issue and instead voted to start an expressions of interest process for three sites in Springwood - the northern and southern car parks and civic centre/library site.
Council will also establish an advisory committee, including representatives from the Springwood Chamber of Commerce, to oversee the project following an amendment by Ward 3 Clr Alison McLaren.
Riding the wave of popular support in the public gallery, Greens Clr Pippa McInnes said she felt "uneasy" about the haste which council was pursuing the project.
"It's very interesting to hear councillors claim to be listening to the people . . . yet the community is very clearly saying they want a slowing down of the process," she said.
Passions over the issue were very evident at the meeting in Springwood's Civic Centre with 20 residents putting their names forward to address council. Most of these speakers - from community members to business owners - called for council to defer pushing ahead with the expressions of interest process.
Springwood Chamber of Commerce secretary David Moss said while the chamber supported the revitalisation process, it objected to the possibility of Woolworths coming to the town (council has already admitted the retail giant has informally approached it about establishing a presence in Springwood). "We support the project wholeheartedly. We don't support a particular aspect of that project," said Mr Moss.
Other speakers criticised council's decision to seek input from the private sector, seemingly ahead of the interests of the community. "You want to see what we can get, before you've identified what we need," said Faulconbridge resident Michael Parker.
But not all speakers opposed the direction of the revitalisation process. Mount Riverview resident Philip Huthnance urged councillors not to take "fringe views and vested interests of the chamber of commerce too seriously". "Council has to make hard decisions. They have to hurt people," he said.
This was a theme Ward 3 Clr Daniel Myles was happy to adopt. Despite a hostile response from the public gallery, he said it was more important to be right than popular. He said council had "no particular agenda" in calling for expressions of interest and stalling the process would only benefit the rival shopping centre at Winmalee. "By doing nothing, you only benefit Coles. By doing nothing, you benefit the status quo," he said.
Clr Alison McLaren said calling for expressions of interest was the only chance council had to provide new community facilities in Springwood. "Council doesn't have the money to redevelop this site (the civic centre) on our own, as much as we'd love to do it," she said. The Labor councillor said calling for expressions of interest did not mean council was committed to any eventual outcome, including the possibility of a Woolworths development. "This is not a foregone conclusion despite what some people are intimating tonight," she said.
But Woolworths is undoubtedly the prime concern for most members of the community. The introduction of a multinational supermarket was the major issue raised in the 145 submissions council received on the revitalisation process. "Concerns surrounded the perceived impact of this style of development on the existing village atmosphere and on the viability of the local traders currently operating in the village," council staff said in their report on the issue.
Even councillors who supported pushing ahead with the project expressed concern about a major chain like Woolworths coming to Springwood. "We need to find out what is available and what we can do . . . but at the same time I'm not interested in it (Springwood) being turned into a concrete jungle," said Ward 2 Clr Chris Van der Kley.
Councillors Kevin Frappell, Lyn Trindall, Daniel Myles, Alison McLaren, Chris Van der Kley and Jim Angel voted to support the expressions of interest process. Clrs Pippa McInnes, Kerrin O'Grady and Anna Brown opposed the move. Clrs Adam Searle, Terri Hamilton and Fiona Creed were not at the meeting.